Reasonable Progress

Just started decreasing for the second arm. Is this going to be the one that fits?

Knitting a Cosy

My friend's teapot needs a cosy. Here's a picture. I will look for a good pattern. Colour work? Cartoon character? No frills? There's so many things to decide. I'll have plenty of time to decide, because the cream Aran shrug is far from finished. It's been a busy week so not much knitting got done.

I can purl backwards quickly and easily now, so that technique was well worth learning. It makes bobbles easy to do. What I can't get the hang of is cabling without a needle. I did try, but it's so much easier with a needle! Every time I slide the stitches off the main needle they instantly and viciously unravel. Then I have to spend ages poking around with a crotchet hook to get them all back. I've given up for this now, but I might try again on a different Aran project.

Cinderella Shrug

Three and a half diamonds complete. I took it away over the weekend, but I took a cable needle with me, seeing as I was in company. I didn't want to shock anybody.

Cinderella Shrug

Look what my fairy godmother brought me! 24 balls of cream Aran yarn (which smells and burns like wool) for £5. I just happened to walk past a charity shop and it was in the window calling to me: 'Don't give up, Cinders. You shall have a cream Aran Shrug.'

Started right away. I know the pattern off by heart now. The first attempt is on 5 mm needles and it is too tight and slightly too small. Began again on 6 mm needles.

Because there's only one strand, I decided to try cabling without a needle again. I can cross a single stitch OK, but every time it comes to three stitches, the last one pops out of the stitch and begins to unravel. I have to keep a crotchet hook and emergency cable needle close by. Much cursing on my part. Andy said: 'You have a cable needle. Why don't you use it?'
I said: 'Because it's quicker.' He gave me a long, thoughtful look and said: 'It'd be quicker to go to the shop and buy a jumper.'

Well, yes, but that's not the point, is it?

I give up on the Cabled Aran Shrug

Spent ages messing around - knitting strips to widen the arms (two more seams) then knitting a lambs tail cuff - hideous beyond imagining. Then a ridged cuff - version shown is far too wide. I'd have to frog and knit on half the stitches. And then Andy, kindly, suggested giving up. I hate to throw away three weeks knitting, but it is looking messy. There's no doubt about it. But I WANTED a cream Aran shrug.

Patron Saint of Knitting

Somebody left a very odd comment - pages of Old Testament gibberish. Now, if they had left a neat prayer to the patron saint of knitting, I may well have not just read it but learnt it and said it often. In fact, I was so taken by this idea that I Googled to see if there was one. It appears not. There are several contenders, but no clear winner, so I guess I'll carry on petitioning St Jude, who is the patron saint of lost causes.

My cream Aran shrug has turned out the wrong size! Again! I cannot understand why I don't notice these things until after three week's knitting. I started a new strip, using larger needles and 5 strands of yarn, then I realised I didn't want to knit another one. Instead, I'm putting an extra strip of fabric under the arms to make it wider and knitting a ridged cuff to make it longer. And if it looks rubbish, the whole thing can go in the bin.

I spend £8

Not a bad haul! It's all 4-ply, but wool, or at least, with wool in it. I've been thinking about making the adult version of Elizabeth Zimmerman's Surprise Jacket - it would be a great stash buster. Looking at people's on the Internet is so fascinating. They all look so different. I like the ones that look as if they have been knitted at a tight gauge - some looked a bit saggy and droopy and being a short and ever rounder person that's not a good look for me. I also liked the ones with thin stripes, which means lots of ends to weave in, the effects were more subtle.

I thought that if I knit with two strands, then I could use up loads of oddments and use a second thin strand that was the same colour throughout to hold the colours together. Say a blue, black, purple, grey, cream version with one strand of vintage 3-ply of dark grey?